Chicken meat is widely consumed worldwide and in order to supply the growing demand, chickens are raised in large factory farms. To prevent contaminated chicken meat being released into the market, a good hygiene practice must be strictly followed. Materials utilized in chicken farming must be completely sanitized including the rice husks that are normally being used as a floor covering material. Aiming to improve rice husk disinfection protocol, infrared radiation (IR) was utilized as an effective, time-saving, and environmental friendly method. A proof-of-concept prototype of rice husk disinfection apparatus equipped with IR source and a rotating conveyor belt was developed. Finite element analysis using COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate heat transfer of IR irradiation to rice husk was performed. The effectiveness of IR irradiation method was analysed using the rice husks that were spiked with Salmonella typhimurium. The total aerobic bacteria plate count showed that the most effective IR rice husk treatment was at 120 ºC for 3 min of exposure time.

Freely suspended smectic films of a few molecular layers thick is a model system that can be used to study two dimensional phenomena. In our study, we drew a smectic C film across a few millimeter hole and stabilized it with a strong surface tension capable of suspending 5CB nematic liquid crystal droplets sprayed onto it. Thermal fluctuation of liquid crystal molecules is observed across the smectic C film and can cause the droplets to be driven closer and coalesce. The coalescence in this environment has yet to be studied more extensively. When two droplets are touching each other, connecting bridge between them forms and rapidly grows while they merge. Coalescence between them was thoroughly studied through high-speed camera under the cross-polarized observation and different regimes during coalescence process were analysed. Scaling law for various regimes will be discussed and explained. To understand the experimental result further, we also perform the study of droplet coalescence through finite element software which include inertial force, interfacial force and viscous force in the model. Comparing and analyzing the experimental and simulation results.